"Windy" trainer
 

I'm a newbie looking to buy a plane. I have been playing around with an Areoace and having a lot of fun. One of the problems I have (other than being old) is that I live in Nebraska and it is rarely "wind free". When I am first learning I will wait for calm conditions but I wonder which trainers are better in the wind. I've read that the Megatech Freedom Flyer is OK in the wind, not crazy about the brand but it seems like a decent plane. Others I'm considering are the EasyStar, Areobird Challenger and T-Hawk. Is one of these OK in 10-ish mph winds after I have some experience or is there a better choice. Thanks.

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

Carl Goldberg Falcon lll flies Great in the wind!

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDJB5&P=0

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

I have only flown two trainers, 40 size club trainer (don't know what it is) and my 40 size Kadet Senior, I flew both in fairly high wind.
From that experience and talking to others I would go out on a limb and say that any 40 size or larger glow engine trainer will handle fairly high wind conditions. Ground handling in cross wind can be tricky but if you can take off and land into the wind you should have no problems.
Stay away from small electric planes if you want to fly in the wind.

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

I may get stomped a bit on this one. But a SIG Four Star 60 is a good low wing trainer and handles wind very well. I fly mine in 20mph winds all the time and have trained more than a few people on it from scratch.

Here's a video of mine being flown by a 15 year old in a wheel chair. Winds were calm to 5mph this day

http://www.hiddenhangarrc.com/video/...xpert_test.wmv

I have the yellow one

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCHY4&P=7

Here is the red one


http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCHY3&P=7

They also come in a pretty easy to build kit

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXFG16&P=ML

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

On real windy days this is the trainer I use....... :)

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

I'm sorry, I posted this in the wrong place. I'm looking for an electric plane.

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

Here's a larger electric plane that's built up from balsa and will fly better in the wind than the smaller electrics you named:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXJKU3**&P=ML

Your local Hobbytown USA in Licoln, NE can special order this Ready-to-Fly plane for you if they don't have it in stock. You should contact the Lincoln Sky Knights flying club about getting some training and assistance while you're learning to fly:

http://www.acsmagnum.com/lsk/

Good luck, and I hope you come back here and find this information!

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

The biggest problem you are going to have is the weight of the plane. MOST electrics are pretty light in weight. For windy/gusty conditions heavier is better. A semi-symetrical airfoil that is thinner is also better. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, this combination does not exist with an electric trainer.

The semi-symetrical wing is usually found on the higher performance planes. While it is entirely feasible to convert a 40 size trainer to electric, the cost, in most cases, is high. To convert a 40 size trainer to electric you are looking at something like an AXI 2826-10 series motor ($100 ) plus a decent size ESC (40 amp about $75 - $100 ) plus a 3S lipo of 2200 mah for a decent flying time (15 - 20 minutes ) plus a lipo charger. To this you will still need to add the plane.

If you wanted to go with a glow trainer, I would suggest the Hobbico Avistar coupled with a decent ball bearing 46 engine.

Sorry I can't provide better news. A big plus to the glow plane trainer is that once you learn how to fly that, the majority of electric planes will be no problem.

RE: "Windy" trainer
 

I agree with Bubba, why not a 4* for a trainer?!? It has an incredibly wide speed range. You can slow it down until its barely moving forward and still maintain good control. Throttle up a bit once you know how to control the plane better and have fun. As far as landing goes it lands at a slow walk slower than even an LT40 and it handles the wind better. When the student get buzzed out from training the instructor can go full throttle and scream aroud the sky to show what the plane can really do. :)